Well here is a heart-warming little thing. There I was, minding my own business, trying for the umpteenth time to get on with knitting my socks, when all three girls pounced on me, and begged me to teach them knitting. So we had a go, and I let them do a stitch each, after which two of our number ran out of patience, but No.2 was really quite taken with it. She sat with me watching intently, so I cast 10 stitches onto fat needles for her to have a go herself, and we sat there companionably knitting for a good hour. She is making a scarf for a dolly. Or possibly a baby, depending how long it ends up. Not that babies have a lot of use for scarves, but no matter.

She has really taken to it, and she loved seeing her scarf get longer and longer. We did more after tea. We snuggle up on the sofa and knit, she does most of it, but I keep a hand on the needle to stop the whole row being dropped at the point of transferring the stitch. The other two were briefly angry at not being part of it, but they quickly became absorbed in a game of ‘Big rum poo bum’ (the exact premise of which eluded me, but it involved saying both ‘poo’ and ‘bum’ ad infinitum thus giving rise to uproarious mirth). Meanwhile, No. 2 knitted. And it was quite lovely to be snuggled up doing something calm and creative with her, and she is SO chuffed at the amount of knitting she has produced. The scarf is a foot long already. It is going considerably better than my socks. We are going to continue tomorrow. Hurrah!